1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates generally to Customer Relationship Management (CRM) applications and more specifically to an application customizable to enable administrators of various reward/loyalty programs to control communications to members.
2. Related Art
Loyalty programs are generally designed to facilitate organizations to reward and retain their customers/members. For example, an airlines organization may have a frequent flier program in which travelers are rewarded with free tickets, vacation packages, reduced subscription prices for magazines, etc., usually depending on the number of miles flown. Similarly, a retail chain of stores may have loyalty programs targeted to (frequent) purchasers of products. Organizations usually award loyalty units (e.g., frequent flier miles, dollars spent, etc.), which can then be redeemed for various rewards.
There is a general need for organizations to send communications to members. The communication sent to members may depend on specific event(s) (occurrence of a desired business situation, typically defined by occurrence of a state) triggering the communication. For example, when a customer/member enrolls, it may be desirable to provide a general brochure with relevant information. On the other hand, when a member exceeds certain level of purchases (e.g., number of miles traveled) communication may need to be sent indicating upgrade to a higher class.
Software applications are often used to administer (including sending communications) loyalty programs. The software applications are often termed as CRM applications since relationship is being managed with the members. The software applications generally need to provide for the communications noted above.
It is often desirable that administrators of applications of specific loyalty programs be able to control the specific communications sent to specific members. For example, different business types (e.g., airline versus a grocery store) may have different criteria for rewards. Similarly, different organizations within the same business type may have different rewards and/or criteria.
Thus, depending on the specific organization for which the application is being deployed, it may be desirable to provide the corresponding administrator the ability to control communications to members. Such a need is of particular relevance in case of vendors of the software applications, who may wish to sell (including license, etc.) the same software to several organizations tailored for their corresponding environment (airlines, retail, etc.), while simplifying individual customizations.
In the drawings, like reference numbers generally indicate identical, functionally similar, and/or structurally similar elements. The drawing in which an element first appears is indicated by the leftmost digit(s) in the corresponding reference number.